We
strongly encourage anyone interested to come to our daily sittings. Please
arrive on time, or approximately 1/2 hour early, if you need orientation.
Cushions, sitting stools, and chairs
are provided.

One Drop
Zendo's Tahoma Monastery was inaugurated to create a place for Zen training
which would be accessible to people in the United States and the West.
For many years, Shodo Harada Roshi had witnessed the depth and eagerness
of Western students who had gone to Japan to train or whom he had trained
in the United States and Europe. In response to this deeply-felt need,
the Roshi made a vow to move to America and establish a permanent place
where he could continue the teaching he had begun in Japan. There
is a well-known saying in Zen circles that "The Dharma (Buddhist teaching)
always moves to the east." This reflects the fact that it has been transmitted
in an eastward direction from India to China to Korea to Japan
and is now gaining great strength and popularity in North America and
Europe. The Roshi's move to the United States
will echo this tradition and will certainly enrich the fertile ground
already cultivated in the West by the many teachers who have come here
before him. After
years of contemplating how and where this move might come about, in September
1995, ODZ found a beautiful, undeveloped 60-acre piece of land on south
Whidbey Island (in the northern part of Washington state's Puget Sound)
suitable for building such a Zen monastery. The site is wooded and has
a tranquil freshwater pond, teardrop shaped, some six acres in size. Logged
over sixty years ago, the land itself consists of second and third growth
forest and is home to numerous plant, animal and bird species. Tree varieties
include big leaf maple, alder, hemlock, fir, and cedar.Building
construction started in 1996 and has continued gradually since then, as
funds have become available. The Monastery complex, though still not complete,
now consists of five buildings with a sixth under construction: the Zendo,
the Kitchen, the Dining Hall, the Roshi's Residence, the Women's Residence,
and a storage building. Future building plans include a Hondo (ceremonial
hall), an enlarged Zendo, and a guest residence as well as various utility
buildings, including a carpenters' workshop. Careful and continuing landscaping
of the grounds serves to enhance and integrate the buildings and provides
a serene atmosphere conducive to meditative practice. As construction
continues, the Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery has been functional for sesshin,
daily zazen and other activities for about two years now, with two senior
monks (and soon three) in full-time residence and several students in
training